Scott Snyder explained to us at WonderCon 2012 just how he's going to "scare" the Caped Crusader during the new "Court of Owls" arc running through "Batman":

"I'm really trying to make it something that is scary to Bruce Wayne on a very personal level -- where the villain is the city, essentially. Where the thing that he thinks of as his greatest friend and ally, Gotham City, is revealed to be a stranger and an enemy."